Abstract: An oven includes one or more upper heating elements, a lower heating system, and a convection system. Electrical power is provided from a source via a controller to provide heat within a housing containing a support member for cooking a food item.

Abstract: A compact scalable food preparation center (10) is adapted for the preparation of custom ordered pizzas on a walk-in or drive-through basis. The center has a base unit (12) with a food preparation surface (14), a refrigerated storage unit (16) under the food preparation surface, and a refrigerated topping storage area (18) on the food preparation surface, the topping storage area having a cover (19). An oven (20) is positioned on top of the base unit with a solid cooking surface and heating elements spaced above the solid cooking surface. The oven is controlled to cook non-frozen raw pizzas with toppings in less than 4 minutes.

Abstract: A food cooking oven has a front door, a back wall opposite the front door, and two side walls connecting the front door to the back wall. The oven also has a rear divider parallel to and spaced apart from the back wall, the rear divider running between the side walls and having a support bracket at a lower edge. The rear divider has a fan inlet. Side brackets are located along each side wall of the oven, each side bracket spaced evenly from the side wall to allow controlled amounts of air to flow between each side wall and each adjacent bracket. A solid cooking surface is adapted to be supported by the support bracket on the lower edge of the rear divider and the side brackets. A lower heating element is positioned below the solid cooking surface and spaced evenly from the solid cooking surface. A fan is positioned between the rear divider and the back wall, the fan is adapted to draw air through the fan inlet in the rear divider and push the air onto the lower cooking element.

Abstract: The oven includes a lower electrical heating element which is located below a support member. Two laterally spaced apart upper electrical heating elements are supported above the support member and the food to be cooked. An electrical system is provided for supplying electrical power to the lower electrical heating element and to the two upper electrical heating elements. A controller is provided for controlling electrical power applied to the lower heating element and to the two upper electrical heating elements. By way of a thermocouple, the controller senses the temperature in the oven and controls the lower heating element to maintain a set point temperature, i.e. 550° F., in the oven. When any of the upper heating elements is activated, and is in a broiling sequence the controller disables these upper heating elements if the temperature in the oven rises above an upper temperature level of i.e. 585° F.